After victory in the 2015–16 Gibraltar Premier Division, Lincoln Red Imps under Uruguayan coach Julio César Ribas went into the tie having won 14 successive league titles, equaling a European record. As one of the lowest ranked teams in the UEFA Champions League, they entered in the first qualifying round where they faced Estonian side FC Flora. Despite a 2–1 defeat in Tallinn, a 2–0 victory in Gibraltar sent them through to the second qualifying round to face Celtic. Celtic themselves had been on a run of 6 successive Scottish titles, however, after a disappointing season in cup competition, head coachRonny Deila resigned and was replaced by former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers. As Celtic received a bye to the second qualifying round, the tie against Lincoln Red Imps was his first competitive game in charge of The Bhoys.
Match
In Lincoln's matchday squad, 8 players were at the time full internationals for the Gibraltar national football team. Starting up front was Lee Casciaro, who scored Gibraltar's first ever competitive goal in a 6–1 victory for Scotland at Hampden Park in March 2015. Celtic's starting 11 contained the previous season's top scorer Leigh Griffiths as well as new signing Moussa Dembélé in attack. The first half saw the visitors dominate possession yet the artificial surface at Victoria Stadium meant that they struggled to carve out any clear cut chances. Despite a disallowed goal from Moussa Dembélé after a foul on Raúl Navas, the two sides went in goalless at half-time. In the second half, Celtic's slow start was quickly punished when Lee Casciaro latched onto a through ball from midfield, outsmarting Efe Ambrose before firing a low shot past Craig Gordon. Shortly afterwards, Antonio Calderon fired a shot over the crossbar while Celtic were still reeling from going behind. The introductions of James Forrest, Stuart Armstrong and Nadir Çiftçi failed to turn the tide in favour of Celtic, however, as Griffiths could only strike the crossbar twice as Lincoln held out for a shock victory.
Details
Aftermath
Immediately after the defeat, many sports media outlets regarded this as one of Celtic's most embarrassing defeats, as well as one of the greatest shocks in European football history. The Scotsman described Celtic's defeat as a "humiliation", whilst The Guardian dubbed the result as "The Shock of Gibraltar". However, in spite of the result, Celtic went on to win the return leg 3–0 at Celtic Park. Over the course of the rest of the season, Celtic would only go on to lose four more times; to Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Barcelona twice, all also in the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League. As a result, the Bhoys went undefeated domestically and won the domestic treble in Brendan Rodgers' first season in charge. Speaking in 2019, Celtic's then-captain Scott Brown bemoaned the build up to the game, as well as the condition of the pitch. He claimed that the result left a "scar" on the club. Conversely, Lincoln's fortunes declined after the defeat to Celtic in the second leg. After losing talisman Liam Walker to arch-rivals Europa followed by a defeat in the Pepe Reyes Cup, Lincoln found themselves locked in a tight championship race with Europa that eventually saw the Greenscome outon topon the last day. The miserable season was compounded when Europa defeated Lincoln in the 2017 Rock Cup final, to win a domestic treble of their own.
